Every professional has their own ambitions. Many junior employees dream of ascending into senior-level executive positions at some point, and to do that, they have to cultivate excellent skills of delegation.
But how can junior professionals practice their delegation skills when they don’t have work to delegate or the authority to delegate their own work? Here, 14 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss various ways for junior-level employees to hone their delegation skills.
Forbes Coaches Council members share ways for junior-level professionals to practice delegation skills.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Consider All Available Resources
One way to expand your perspective on delegation is to think about all resources available, such as systems, tools, cross-functional teams, vendors and your direct manager. Look at all the steps in a process and determine if certain steps can be delegated to one of these resources. As a senior leader, you will be spending the majority of your time thinking about delegation in this way. - Leang Chung, Pelora Stack
2. Lead A Project Team
The best way to show your management and delegation skills is to lead a project team. You want to make sure that you are delegating and giving credit to the team’s work to show that you can delegate and motivate others. - Jasmine Briggs, Creatively Inspired Coaching
3. Show Initiative And Lead Yourself
Self-leadership is the first step to all leadership. Lead as if you already have the senior role, showing initiative and doing what it takes to get the “job” done. There is no room for timidness once you’ve made the decision to be a leader, senior or otherwise. Go out there and give it your best shot—now! - Jon Michail, Image Group International
4. Reframe Your View Of Delegation
Reframe the way you view delegating from “distributing workloads and assigning tasks” to “helping others develop and grow.” You should try to align what you are delegating with the interests and needs of the person, and ideally, they should be given the option to say “yes” or “no” to taking it on. This is why it’s so important to know your people, their interests and aspirations. - Jim Livingstone, Northpoint
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5. Practice Politics
Remember, office politics are neither good nor evil. The social game we play mitigates the defaults of dictatorship and militancy in leadership. Political skill is a necessary skill and will have an overall positive influence on the organization, as it allows influence and information to travel in unconventional ways, adding a layer of creativity to organizational behavior. - Corrie Block, Paragon Consulting FZE
6. Strengthen Priority-Setting Skills
First, be sure you request that your manager delegate as much as possible to you to drive your growth quickly. Always ask yourself if you are setting the right priorities and making the best use of your time. Be sure to delegate if there’s someone you can delegate to. If not, strengthening your priority-setting skills will help you to delegate effectively once you have the opportunity - Kathy Bernhard, KFB Leadership Solutions
7. Volunteer For Special Projects
Volunteer for special projects within your organization, and outside of it through volunteer work, where you can lead a team and practice delegating and managing others. On a daily basis, work on continually prioritizing your own to-do list, understanding which tasks will help you achieve your goals and which are not a priority—and then learn to say “no.” - Aaron Levy, Raise The Bar
8. Prioritize Your Own Deliverables
A great way to develop the delegating muscle, even at a junior level, is to strategically prioritize your deliverables so that you make clear through your actions that you are focused on what is most important for you to do. In addition, consider putting together a small team and allocating tasks based on strengths, skill sets and interests. Even among peers, you are demonstrating leadership! - Joanne Heyman, Heyman Partners
9. Learn To Work Across Teams
While you are junior in your role, you can look for opportunities to serve, share responsibility, develop solutions and assign roles to achieve goals alongside your peers. Also, don’t limit the development of your skills to your work role. Look for opportunities to serve and lead in the community through faith-based, civic-engagement and community-service organizations. - Billy Williams, Archegos
10. Volunteer For Leadership Positions
Get to know the subject matter experts and start to become comfortable with asking for input. In a team setting, lean on your team members’ strengths and let them do the same. Work sharing can be powerful if utilized intentionally. Volunteer for leadership positions at professional organizations or for events and learn how to respectfully delegate while leveraging team talents. - Erin Urban, UPPSolutions, LLC
11. Be Accountable For What You Need To Get Done
All too often, people mistake delegation for dumping, passing the buck or getting rid of work that you hate to do yourself. Being accountable for what you need to get done is the starting point of delegation. Though different people have different styles of delegation, the accountability factor remains constant for all. Now, that is something you can practice even if you lead just one employee. - Vinesh Sukumaran, Vinesh Sukumaran Consulting
12. Consider Leadership By Influence
A junior employee without an official, down-line direct report might consider leadership by influence. This can happen when a professional practices sharing or allocating tasks at a project level. Seek to be part of a project where you can practice peer leadership at a “work unit” level, which can translate into a quasi-delegation function. Practice the skill from there to become a project leader. - Thomas Lim, Singapore Public Service, SportSG
13. Join A Company Forum
Become a member in a company forum that is meaningful to you and take on an influential role that will allow for some delegation to occur. Another way is to productively upward manage your leader/manager by goal setting with them and having clarity about what they are responsible for in assisting and guiding your growth and development. Lastly, volunteer for team project lead roles too. - Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory
14. Exchange Tasks With Other Employees
One way to practice delegation while a junior employee is to speak to other employees and find out what tasks they like to do that you need to do. Even though you may need to take some tasks from them that you might prefer to do, you are learning to let others take tasks from you willingly. You just need to be able to let go and be clear about when the tasks need to be completed. It’s all about accountability! - Andrew Tallents, The Tallents Partnership Limited
